American Doppelgangers Star as the Enemy in Chinese Army Videogame

A People’s Liberation Army Type 99 battle tank trundles through a darkened forest. Moments later, a Chinese soldier takes aim with a QBZ-95 assault rifle and sends a barrage of bullets flying in the direction of what appears to be a cluster of American soldiers.

No, this shadowy slice of post-Cold War apocalyptica comes courtesy of “Glorious Mission,” a videogame designed to help train China’s enlisted men.

European Pressphoto Agency

PLA navy soldiers sang revolutionary songs Wednesday as they participate in an event to mark the upcoming 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party at a square in Qingdao city, eastern China’s Shandong province.

The existence of “Glorious Mission,” a first-person shooter co-developed by the PLA and Nasdaq-listed Chinese software company Giant Interactive Group, was first revealed when test footage was aired on the military channel of state-run broadcaster CCTV in May. Aside from some noteworthy parallels between the “enemy” in the game and the U.S. military–the test footage at one point shows a U.S.-made Apache helicopter being given the “Black Hawk Down” treatment–the report offered little detail on the project itself.

On Wednesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency ran a report that fills in some of those details.

Citing unnamed PLA sources, the report says the game allows a maximum of 32 people to play simultaneously, adding that the weapons and vehicles in the game are all based on actual PLA equipment.

Counter to reports that players would not be able to operate planes and aircraft, Xinhua says, “the final version will allow players to control aerial and naval combat vehicles.”

Virtual battle training has obvious appeal for a military that has not seen major armed conflict since China’s 1979 border war with Vietnam, though critics have questioned the diplomatic wisdom – not to mention frightening implications – of so blatantly suggesting that China’s next war will be fought against the U.S.

As the Wired blog Danger Room has noted, the U.S. Army has its own first-person shooter, “America’s Army,” that is similar to “Glorious Mission” in putting players through virtual basic training before throwing them onto the battlefield. Unlike “Glorious Mission,” however, the U.S. game declines to identify a specific enemy, instead pitting players against a generic terrorist force.

“Glorious Mission” has passed internal inspections and will be distributed within the PLA, Xinhua cites the PLA and Giant Interactive as saying without giving a release date.

So when will China’s army of nonmilitary gamers get a crack at shooting down an Apache? Xinhua says rumors that a “civilian” version of “Glorious Mission” would be unveiled in 2012 remain unconfirmed by military authorities.